I'm Glad You're Home
by katsi
Summary: After a bad night, Zack realizes how lucky he is to have his Mom.


* * *

Carrie had been out of town for a week and Kurt was staying with the boys since he was between tours. 

"Oh, man, I wish Mom wasn't coming back tonight." said Zack, as he grabbed another slice of pizza. "She would never let us eat pizza for every meal and play video games till 2 am. Dad is SOO cool! I wish he lived here all the time!"

"Yeah, but I'd miss Mom, too." Cody said. "Besides, I need vegetables and sleep to keep up my high IQ!"

Zack rolled his eyes. His brother was such a goody-goody, sometimes.

Kurt came into the room, wading through pizza boxes, fried chicken buckets, candy wrappers and soda cans on the way. "Ok guys, I know it's only 12, but your mom is gonna be home in a couple hours, and you know how she'll give it to me if you guys are still up, when she gets here. Better get to bed!"

"See what I mean?" Zack said angrily, downing the last of his fourth soda of the evening. "If it weren't for _Mom_, we could do whatever we wanted all the time!" He let out a loud burp and followed Cody to their bedroom.

Kurt cleared all the trash off the couch and lay down to sleep himself.

Cody was jolted awake by the sound of someone moaning. He rubbed his eyes and glanced at the clock, _1:30 am_. He looked over at Zack, who was curled in a ball in his bed, rocking back and forth and holding his stomach.

"Zack, you okay?" he asked. _ "Dumb question, Cody", _he thought to himself . "What's wrong Zack?"

"Oohhh, it's my stomach… it's really upset... oohhh…." he whimpered.

"I'll go get Dad!" said Cody, and he ran from their room. "Dad, dad, wake up!" Cody said shaking his dad to wake him.

"Wha, what? What is it?" Kurt asked groggily.

"Zack's sick. He's got a bad stomach ache." Cody replied.

"Oh, well, give him some Pepto or something. I'm sure he'll be fine." Kurt replied, and rolled back over to sleep.

"But, Dad…" Cody started, but the sounds of his dad's snores quickly made him realize he was on his own. He wasn't mad. He knew it wasn't that his dad didn't care. He just wasn't the nurturing type.

He went back to their room to find Zack looking worse than before. He was white as a sheet and he had broken out in a cold sweat from the nausea. Cody felt his forehead, which was cool to the touch. "Well, you don't have a fever, so it's probably not too serious. Maybe it was something you ate, the pizza, the beef jerky, the 3 bean burritos…." "OOoooh…." Zack's stomach lurched. "NOT helping" he moaned, his head spinning, and brought a hand to his mouth trying to hold back the feeling he was going to be sick any moment. "Oh…yeah, sorry, can I get you anything?" asked Cody. "Where's dad? Zack said, through clenched teeth. He was afraid of what might happen if he opened his mouth. "He said you'd be okay, and went back to sleep. Maybe I should call Maddie…"

Zack just lay there moaning, feeling as though someone was skateboarding in his stomach. Cody wandered back to the living room, and began pacing, trying to figure out what to do. He had never seen Zack like this before and it made him feel a little sick, too, because he didn't know how to make it better. _"I wish mom were here." _he thought to himself.

As if on cue, Carrie walked in the door to the suite. Cody ran to her. "Mom, I'm glad you're here," he said. "Zack's really sick and I don't know what to do!"

"What is it?" she asked. "His stomach is really hurting bad!" Cody replied anxiously.

Carrie dropped her bags and looked around the place at all the junk food wrappers. "Gee, I wonder why", she said sarcastically, while wondering to herself how Cody had managed to escape the same fate. She glanced at her ex husband snoozing on the couch, completely oblivious, and shook her head.

"Get me a cold damp washcloth and a glass of ginger ale." she said, as she headed for the boys' room.

"Zack, honey? I'm home." She sat down on the edge of his bed, reached over and felt his forehead. His eyes were closed, and he was holding his stomach, and moaning softly. He managed to choke out "Hi mom" and "I don't feel so good." without throwing up all over her, which, with the way he felt at the moment, he thought was quite a feat.

"I know, sweetie. Cody told me. I'm here now; it's going to be okay." she said gently. He looked up at her, and a few tears rolled down his cheeks. Normally he would have been ashamed to cry, but at the moment, he didn't care. He felt awful and he just wanted his mom to make it all better.

Cody came in with the things she had asked for. He handed them to her and sat down on the other side of the bed, looking worriedly at Zack.

"Can you sit up for a minute, honey?" she asked Zack. He winced at the pain as he pushed himself up against the headboard. His stomach heaved again and he gagged, fresh sweat beading on his forehead. Carrie sighed. "Oh, baby, you're really sick. Here, drink a few sips of this. It'll help settle your stomach" she said, handing him the glass of ginger ale, and rubbing his back while he sipped it. After Zack finished, she helped him lay back down and placed the cool washcloth on his forehead. Then she unbuttoned his pajama top, and began to gently massage his stomach. He moaned softly for a while as his stomach continued to turn over and fresh waves of nausea washed over him. Her soft, warm hands were soothing, and just having her there eased his nerves. After what seemed like a long while Zack could feel his stomach start to relax, and the ginger ale began to calm the nausea. Carrie continued rubbing his stomach in a gentle counter clockwise motion ( she remembered using this method when he was a baby and had colic), until she felt his breathing fall into a rhythmic pattern, and knew he was finally asleep. "Goodnight, sweetheart" she whispered and kissed his forehead. Then she tiptoed out of the room and headed for her own bed, thinking _"it's good to be home."_

The next morning Carrie was sitting at the kitchen table drinking her coffee and reading the paper, when Zack came up behind her and gave her a big hug. "Love you, mom", he said. She turned to him, somewhat surprised. "Hey, you're feeling better! I love you too, but what was that for?" she asked. "Nothin'", Zack replied, "I'm just glad you're home." And with that he headed to the bathroom to get ready for school.

The End


End file.
